Judge approves settlement in iPod class action suit

A San Mateo County judge on Thursday approved the settlement of a class action suit that will offer relief to as many as 1.3 million iPod owners who may have been victim to poor or defective batteries.

The original lawsuit, filed on behalf of US residents, alleged that Apple failed to disclose the battery limitations of its first three iPod models.

"All these people are going to get relief, and we think that's a big victory for them," Steve Williams, lead counsel for the suit, and an attorney for Burlingame's Cotchett, Pitre, Simon & McCarthy told the San Mateo Times.

The settlement applies to consumers who purchased an iPod model on or before May 31, 2004 and saw the charge of their iPod battery drop to four hours or less on a third-generation iPod, or five hours or less on one of the first two generation models.

Under the settlement, owners of either a first- or second-generation model are entitled to $25 cash or $50 credit at the Apple store. Meanwhile, owners who actually paid Apple to repair a battery in one of the players will be entitled to up to half of that cost back.

Owners of third-generation iPod models are entitled to a free replacement battery if the battery fails.

For third-generation iPod claims, the postmark deadline for submitting a claim is two years after the original purchase date of the iPod or September 30, 2005, whichever is later. For all other claims, the postmark deadline for submitting a claim is September 30, 2005.

In addition to reimbursing consumers, the original suit also sought attorneys' fees and out-of-pocket expenses in the amount of $2,768,000, and a $1,500 incentive payment to each of the suit's class representatives. Apple did not oppose either reward.

According to lawyers, the settlement could cost Apple as much as $15m in total, which is considerably less than the $100m figured quoted when the settlement was conditionally approved in June

But the fact that they got anything at all is not. Rechargable batteries have been around now for four decades. 40 years! If people don't know by now that all rechargable batteries die after a while then it's too bad for them.

I am a strong believer in consumerism, but that ends with some personal responsibility.

This is like that suit against MacDonalds where a woman takes a hot *paper* cup of coffee, puts it between her knees, and starts her car, causing her to move her knees together squashing the cup and spilling coffee over her.

If I were on that jury I would have awarded MacDonalds money.

Too many people seem to want to lead a happy go lucky life where their own stupidity is paid for by someone else.

You can run any rechargeable battery down quickly or not, depending on use. Apple MAY indeed have sold defective parts (which was surely not intentional), but I have yet to see evidence of that being true. I see evidence of lawyers going after a big target, and Apple having to choose the path of least resistance to get rid of them. Beyond that I cannot say.

Also, many people think the iPod was the only player designed with batteries that are hard to get to. That was never true. Sealed-in batteries have been common on MANY players.

The difference being that with iPod, vs. those other sealed-in models, at least you have several choices of replacement batteries--AND services to install them for you if you prefer

Originally posted by BRussellWhat happened here? I got my settlement paperwork over a month ago (though I haven't sent it in yet). It wasn't approved yet?

I don't think that was settlement to the case, it may have been just Apple's own replacement program (I don't know, I got it too, but I already had applecare for the stupid thing, so it didn't mean much).

It doesn't seem like much of a deal, though (well, except for the lawyers!). Gen 1 and 2 owners get only half their money back, if they paid apple to replace it (own replacements don't count). Why only half price? Or they get credit, which is great for apple, allows them to get people to buy more of their stuff.

Its odd that it seems all the 1G and 2G owners get credit, not just those with a problem.

Third-gens get a battery replacement, at least. Assuming they haven't got one already (or went 3rd party to save money).